HCJB launches 'Me and My Household' initiative

NASHVILLE, Tenn.  HCJB Global, an international media and healthcare ministry, is launching a new initiative challenging Americans to pray for their households, reach out in their communities through service, and to pray for unreached households around the globe.

Based on Joshua 24:15, the "Me and My Household" initiative is offering a free prayer e-card that Christians can use to send a prayer for their households to their immediate and extended families.

The international ministry announced the initiative Feb. 10 at the annual National Religious Broadcasters convention.

"Households have always been a significant part of the Christian faith," HCJB Global President Wayne Pederson said in a news release. "Since the days of the early church, households were traditionally places of worship, teaching, prayer and fellowship."

Pederson said that while households are still the center of life for the majority of the world, many of today's Western households are fragmented and no longer uphold these values and traditions. By focusing on households globally, the Colorado Springs, Colo.-based HCJB Global aims to engage Western households in prayer and local service in an effort to then join together and reach unsaved households globally.

The organization will also be sponsoring a nationwide contest that allows Christians to submit outreach projects based on HCJB Global's commitment to declare and demonstrate Jesus to others. Contest winners will receive cash prizes to complete the local project they submitted.

The HCJB initiative also includes a challenge to American households to pray for unreached households and to give $1 to reach one household in the Arab world for one year.

The "Me and My Household" initiative was developed based on research showing that HCJB Global is reaching more than 1 million Arab households worldwide through its radio ministry. The concept is also supported by studies that show households are still the foundation of society in non-Western cultures.

"It is our hope that hundreds of thousands of families across America will join us in this effort to pray for our households, and then pray for and support millions of families and households around the world with the 'good news' of Jesus Christ," Pederson said.

In addition to its work in Arab nations, HCJB Global also seeks to use its radio and healthcare services to reach millions of unsaved households in other ministry regions, including Euro-Asia, Latin America, Asia Pacific and Sub-Saharan Africa. The global ministry, officials said, represents the "Voice and Hands of Jesus" to the unreached.

"These are serious times for families and households in America and around the world," said Pederson. "As families and households change, communities change. As communities change, cities change. As cities change, nations change. And as nations change, the world will be changed."

Since its founding 77 years ago, the organization and its partners have ministries in more than 100 countries and airs the gospel in more than 120 languages and dialects. The ministry is also training local believers to serve as missionaries, pastors, broadcasters and healthcare providers.

For more information about the "Me and My Household" initiative, and to access the e-card, visit www.hcjbglobal.org.